“The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen coined the phrase “vital lie” for the comforting story we tell ourselves that hides a more painful truth. When it comes to the full costs of ecological ignorance in the marketplace, we endorse the vital lie what we don’t know or can’t see does not matter.” – Daniel Goleman

Our world is undergoing unprecedented change. For the first time in history, man, through his activities, has become a serious threat to the continued existence of life as we know it on planet earth. In his book, Ecological Intelligence: The Hidden Impacts of What We Buy, Daniel Goleman highlights one of the many challenges to change, and that is our inability to perceive ecological damage as an imminent threat. This makes it easy for people to believe “the vital lie” that because they can’t see or feel the damage, can’t perceive a threat, that it doesn’t matter, or even that it doesn’t exist.

“Psychophysicists use the term “just noticeable difference” to describe the merest amount of shift our senses can detect in sensory signals like pressure or volume. the ecological changes that signal impending danger are sub-threshold, too subtle to register in our sensory systems at all. We have no ready-made detectors for, nor instinctive response to, these hazy sources of harm. The human brain adapted to spot dangers within its sensory field. But to survive today we must perceive threats that are beyond our threshholds for perceptions. We must make the invisible visible.” – Daniel Goleman, Ecological Intelligence

But there are people who are so exquisitely sensitive to chemical and electromagnetic exposures that they seem to have almost superhuman abilities to detect toxins with the potential to harm humans, animals and the earth as a whole. I believe that these people, at least to some extent, may represent an exception to the rule spoken of above. It seems to be the assumption of many, even sufferers of chemical sensitivity themselves, that the chronically ill are maladapted to our world. But if looked at through the lens of ecological destruction, just the opposite may be true. Those who know they are ill from the toxins in our environment have adopted the name canaries in the coalmine because they believe they are a warning to the rest of the world. They live each day unavoidably aware of the damage to our planet. They feel environmental damage in their lungs, joints, muscles, brains. They feel the pain of the destruction like no others. For them, Toto has pulled aside the curtain so that they can see the humbug wizard behind the madness of our world. They exist in an alternate reality not seen by others, and it can be maddening. The world is burning, but though they scream fire at the top of their lungs, the audience is mostly deaf.

No, canaries are not maladapted, they are hyper-adapted.

When a person is aware of what and where pollution is, and is also aware of the fact that they are indeed being made ill by pollution, there are certain things that they are unlikely to do. They would be unlikely, for example, sit in a moldy house drenched in artificial fragrance and toxic cleaning chemicals and wonder why round after round of antibiotics doesn’t clear up their repeated sinus infections. They probably would not wear clothes reeking of fabric softener while wondering why their asthma keeps getting worse. They would not own a vehicle with a leak in the gas line and wonder why they have migraines every time they go anywhere. They would not spray their yards with Roundup and then wonder why they just cannot get well. They just wouldn’t do those things.

The problem with being a member of a group of people who are hyper-adapted to a toxic world is just this: they are a minority. For now. And because they are a minority, it means that the pollution proceeds unabated. It means that because the destruction is “beyond the threshhold for perception” of most people, canaries will often be viewed as crazy malingerers. It means that no matter how many adjustments to their lives that they make, they will never completely escape the pollutants that are making them ill. It means isolation. It means frustration. It means heartbreak.

So what is the answer? It is Daniel Goleman’s contention that if more people begin using their cerebral cortex to make decisions about what’s dangerous and what’s not rather than relying on their amygdalas, that we might have a chance to turn this ship around. We just need to get the word out, he says. I disagree. Our best efforts will continue to fail. The cards are stacked against us because those with the most money and the most power seem for the most part to be guided not by accurate information coupled with altruism, but by greed. They are morally bankrupt. This will not change because all the good ideas and good intentions in the world cannot root greed out of the heart of man.

I’m a Christian. And as such, I do not believe that we are alone in this. I believe the bible when it says that God will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” (Revelation 11:18) I believe Jesus when he said that the “meek… shall inherit the earth”. (Matthew 5:5 KJV)

So if I’m right, if it’s true that God is going to stop us from annihilating ourselves, does that absolve Christians of the responsibility to care for the earth? No, far from it. Wendell Berry wrote that we“have no right to destroy what we did not create.” God did not put us here to become a plague, but to care for and protect our home. (Genesis 1:28) And aside from that, it is the responsibility of all Christians to imitate their God who is love. Love should guide all of our actions. Wasting resources, polluting the air and water, spreading garbage everywhere, and generally making ourselves pests is far from loving.

“Violence against one is ultimately violence against all. The willingness to abuse other bodies is the willingness to abuse one’s own. To damage the earth is to damage your children.” – The Body and the Earth, by Wendell Berry

What can we do?

We can refuse to believe “the vital lie”. We can pull our heads out of the sand and educate ourselves. We can make a genuine effort, once we know better, to do better. We can believe those who feel the pollution in their bodies, the canaries. We can refuse to do avoidable harm. It matters.

It seems to be the assumption of many that objections to the use of fragrance are based solely on personal preference or unfounded fear. But the truth is that there is evidence that fragrance may be hurting everyone, not just the super-sensitive, as brought out in this blog post from Time.

From sneezing and wheezing to rash and headache, many people suffer an allergic reaction to perfume—even when it’s on someone else. “Anything that gives perfume an odor is very likely going to be an allergen,” says Dr. Heather Patisaul, a biologist at North Carolina State University who studies the way environmental exposures mess with human development. That means your cologne- or perfume-soaked colleague could be the cause of your runny nose.

“Look at your perfume bottle and read the ingredients,” she suggests. “It reads like a chemistry book.” You can get lost among all the benzyls and ethyls. But it’s the ingredient listed simply as “fragrance” or “parfum” that worries public health researchers like Patisaul. “Those terms are a catchall for 10,000 different ingredients,” she says.

I used to be one of you. So I get it, I do. I wore perfume and l loved it when men wore cologne. I used hairspray, perfumed lotion, heavily scented deodorant, and my clothes smelled “fresh” from the laundry detergent I used. My car smelled like artificial cinnamon from the air freshener I hung. I ate and drank what I wanted – mounds of pasta, fast food, desserts of all kinds, candy, sodas, espresso every day…and I loved it all.

If someone had tried to stop me then with facts about how I was harming myself, I imagine I would have resisted. It would have been hard to imagine life without junk food and chemicals. In fact, I didn’t even think of it in those terms. I had no idea where fragrance came from. I think I must have imagined somehow that it came from plants and flowers. And I knew I felt bad if I ate too much junk food, but a little now and then? Come on now! What could be so wrong?

But then I became ill, and everything I’d taken for granted about my life was up for reconsideration. I didn’t like feeling sick, so I started to read. I found some things out that I think I would rather have not known. It began to dawn on me that there was a sinister reality which had been until now hidden from me: the world is not as friendly a place as I had assumed, and remaining healthy in it would require me to buck the tide, to be different.

For many years I fought hard against the contraction of my world. I love to belong. I love freedom. So I often pretended that I was fine, that I was not being harmed by my choices or the choices of other people. I forced my body to get my attention with the worst kind of health crisis before I would listen to it. By that time, my world had contracted to the size of my bed by no choice of mine, something that may not have happened if I had voluntarily contracted my world a bit by eating healthier, avoiding unmitigated stress, and staying away from toxins. My insistence on total freedom in a toxic world essentially stripped me of all freedom for a time.

So dear normals, I do get it. I have not always been the strange, food allergic, chemically sensitive person you see before you now. I know what it’s like not to want to give up the things I like. I know what it’s like to want to look the other way when confronted with evidence about the harm my choices are causing. I know what it’s like to want to question the validity of that evidence because it just seems too awful to be true. But I can assure you now that it is true. My sick body is living proof.

When people find out that I am sensitive to the chemicals in everyday products, I almost invariably find that they believe one or more of the many myths surrounding MCS. First, what is MCS? I’m constantly surprised by the fact that almost no one knows what I’m talking about when I use that acronym. MCS stands for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. The Chemical Sensitivity Foundation defines it this way:

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is a medical condition characterized by a heightened sensitivity to chemicals. People who have MCS become ill when exposed to a variety of chemicals, many of which are commonly encountered in everyday life. Some people have only mild chemical sensitivities, while others have a more severe form of the illness called MCS.

Now that you know what it is, I imagine some of you are probably thinking, “Ooooh, I think I know somebody with that problem”. With a lot of help from some of my fellow MCS sufferers, I have identified some of the more common myths associated with the disorder:

Myth #1: People who say they have MCS really have chemophobia (fear of chemicals), anxiety, or depression and probably need psychiatric help (medication).

Most people who have MCS didn’t have any idea that everyday chemicals could be dangerous or cause life-long problems until they became ill. Many didn’t find out what was making them ill for a long time, going from doctor to doctor looking for a solution. Much of the time, it is not until a person begins to avoid chemicals that they begin to see the connection between their symptoms and the chemicals they had been exposed to. It is possible that some people with MCS develop chemophobia, but it’s usually long after they have had many bouts with chemical-induced illness.

Some people with MCS do suffer from depression, but evidence suggests that the depression usually occurs after the onset of the illness, which would also suggest that it often results from the misery and social isolation of chemical sensitivity, and not the other way around.

Also, MCS causes physical illness. It is known that physical illness is very often accompanied by mental illness. The brain is a physical organ which, like any other organ, can be affected by toxins and disease processes. Many of the toxicants which make us ill are known neurotoxins, which could also explain much of the anxiety and depression experienced by people with MCS.

Because of liver-function abnormalities often seen in people with MCS and a general hypersensitivity to many different chemicals, psychiatric medications are often not well-tolerated and are most definitely not a cure-all solution to this problem.

Myth #2: People with MCS should just take antihistamines or allergy shots so they can live more normally and not have to avoid contact with common chemicals.

Standard allergy treatments often fail with MCS. That is because the disease mechanism appears to be different from what happens in allergic illness. In a true allergic reaction, the immune system begins to tag harmless substances as harmful invaders. That sets off all the classic symptoms of allergies: sneezing, runny nose, coughing, hives, etc. Many people do react in that way to chemicals, in which case allergy treatment may be beneficial. But many others react in ways that are not typical of an allergic reaction. Often, neurological symptoms such as pain, dizziness, brain fog, slurred speech, and tremors are dominant. These types of reactions will often not respond to common treatments for allergies.

Myth #3: Common personal care and household products are mostly harmless and people with MCS are just hysterical.

Environmental Working Group would beg to differ. They have created several databases including the Skin Deep Database which exposes not only the ingredients of common products, but also their potential toxicity to humans. Many of the most commonly used household and personal care products listed received an F on a scale of A to F, F being a “fail”, or most dangerous. – Test your knowledge of cosmetics safety: 8 myths debunked

Myth #4: People with chemical sensitivities just have a strong sense of smell and are bothered by odors.

People with MCS can often react to odorless chemicals, so it’s not about the smell.

“… It should be clear … that chemicals in MCS are not acting on the classic olfactory receptors (15,16), but rather are acting as toxicants. This is opposite many published but undocumented claims that MCS is a response to odors. There is additional evidence arguing against the view that MCS is a reaction to odors. MCS sufferers who are acosmic, having no sense of smell, people who have intense nasal congestion and people whose nasal epithelia have been blocked off with nose clips can all be highly chemically sensitive (1,4). This does not necessarily mean that MCS never impacts the olfactory system. It simply means that MCS is not primarily an olfactory response.”

Possibly up to 25% (depending on the study you read) of people in the US report symptoms of chemical sensitivity. It’s likely that most of the statistics on MCS prevalence are shots in the dark, as many people who suffer with MCS go undiagnosed. Many others who are sensitive to chemicals simply don’t know what it is that’s making them ill. – MCS statistics

“Like the tobacco industry, the chemical industry often uses non-profit front groups with pleasant sounding names, neutral-appearing third party spokespeople, and science-for-hire studies to try to convince others of the safety of their products. This helps promote the appearance of scientific objectivity, hide the biased and bottom-line driven agenda of the chemical industry, and create the illusion of scientific “controversy” regarding MCS. But whether anti-MCS statements are made by doctors, researchers, reporters, pest control operators, private organizations, or government officials, make no mistake about it – the anti-MCS movement is driven by chemical manufacturers. This is the real story of MCS.”

The controversy surrounding MCS is not real. It is manufactured by chemical industry leaders with a profit-driven agenda.

Myth #6: “If I can’t smell it, it’s not there.”

If you put it on, ever, it’s there. Often we cannot smell our own odor because of something called olfactory fatigue .

“Chemicals capable of disrupting endocrine hormones… are now understood to be a different kind of toxin. None of them follow “the dose makes the poison” dictum. Even at tiny doses they can alter the way the immune and endocrine systems operate, leaving the body vulnerable to sickness or developmental damage. Pthalates, bisphenal-A, dioxins, flame retardants, and some pesticides as well as long-banned chemicals persisting in the environment, such as DDT, are major hormone disruptors.”

Incidentally, pthalates are found in many fragrances, which also means that it’s found in many if not most fragranced products.

Myth #8: MCS is just an excuse to “opt out of life”.

I have spoken to and read about many people who have MCS, and not one has ever seemed happy about their isolation. In fact, what I hear most is despair approaching desperation. Nobody wants to be shut out of life.

Myth #9: People with MCS behave in contradictory ways. Sometimes they say they react and sometimes they seem fine. This must mean they are not telling the truth about their symptoms.

Symptoms of chemical sensitivity can wax and wane depending what level of health the sufferer is experiencing at the time. When a person with MCS is feeling particularly strong, perhaps because of their efforts to heal their body, they may not have such obvious reaction to chemicals. On the other hand, if the person is feeling run-down, it’s possible that their reactions will be more severe and long-lasting. Things that affect sensitivity levels include stress, sleep, nutrition, and whether or not they have been able to breathe clean air in recent days.

Or…maybe they don’t want to tell you every time they start feeling ill because they are tired of be told that it’s all in their head?

Myth #10: People with MCS just need to stop thinking about chemicals and symptoms and they will be fine.

It’s true that thoughts can be very powerful. But as I mentioned before, most people with MCS didn’t even know that they were being made ill by chemicals at first. Obviously, thinking about chemicals could not have played a role in the etiology of their illness if they didn’t even know to think about them in the first place.

Myth # 11: “Normal” people shouldn’t have to worry about the products they use if there are “safe” areas set aside for those with sensitivities.

It might seem like a good idea to provide an area set aside for people with chemical sensitivities at social events such as religious services, conferences, conventions, and concerts, but there are a couple of problems with it. We all would like to participate fully on social occasions. Segregation does not feel good. It’s frustrating and disheartening. Also segregating people with MCS away from others in a group tends to give people a false sense of having done the right thing. They often feel that because those with sensitivities have their “safe” area, that it won’t matter how much fragrance they use or what the building is cleaned with. It is very difficult to keep a small area of a building completely free of scent when the rest of the building is full of it. This is often due to common ventilation systems and the opening and closing of doors. It’s similar to the absurdity of setting aside non-smoking sections in restaurants. The non-smoking section may be slightly less noxious (or not), but it will never be completely free of the presence of smoke or tobacco residues.

Myth # 12: If my scents were making people ill, they would tell me.

People with MCS have often encountered so much skepticism and ridicule from family and friends about their symptoms that they may give up trying to talk about it. We sometimes find ourselves having to choose between educating the public about the reality of MCS and keeping our friends. Some of us suffer in silence. Others choose to try to quietly escape a toxic situation without making a scene.

Some cases of MCS are so severe that a reaction goes far beyond what might be considered typical. It is possible for a reaction to cause so much brain fog that the sufferer finds it difficult to articulate thoughts and may not be able to tell you that you are making them sick. Some reactions can include hearing loss, temporary blindness, and may even progress to the point where the sufferer actually physically collapses. This is extremely frightening for the sufferer and for those standing by. How would it feel to find out that it may have been your Chanel #5 that caused this to happen to someone?

It is believed that these chemically vulnerable modern-day “canaries in a coal mine” have an important lesson to teach us, if we would but listen – namely, that the hyperreactivity manifested by those with chemical sensitivity is an early warning sign of the alarming potential for eventual poisoning of our entire population by the numerous man-made chemical pollutants to which we are being continuously exposed. In other words, the fact that chemically sensitive individuals demonstrate exquisite vulnerability to toxic injury should serve to alert us to the disturbing reality that our modern industrial society, despite its many advantages, may ultimately compromise the health of us all.

As noted earlier, MCS is not rare. And many of the people who are suffering from it are unaware of what it is that is making them ill, so the actual number of sufferers is likely to be much higher than the numbers that are published. Also, many of the chemicals to which people are reacting are known human toxicants, many of them carcinogens. We would all do well to avoid them.

It can be much easier to change our cleaning, washing, and beauty routines than many people assume. Check out EWG Consumer Guides for help in finding non-toxic products.

Myth # 14: People with MCS seem to get sick from every little thing. They are over-reacting and need to loosen up.

Toxic chemicals truly are ubiquitous in the modern world. They are nearly impossible to escape. People with MCS are not getting sick from “every little thing”, they are getting sick from human toxicants. Often, symptoms are so severe that they cannot simply “lighten up”. They have to protect themselves from the consequences of toxic exposure. It sometimes happens that people with MCS will go on a trip to the ocean or mountains, breath fresh, clean air, and begin to feel almost 100% better. What does that indicate about the nature of this disorder? What does it indicate about our society that we should have to travel many miles away from population centers in order to experience normal health?

Conclusion

The truth is that MCS is a scary, cruel, and relentless thief of health, relationships, careers, and even lives. Yes, people really have died from it. It should be taken as seriously as any other chronic, possibly fatal illness. But it’s not. And most of that seems to have to do with the greed and political meddling of powerful corporations. It’s the story of Big Tobacco all over again. But this time it’s worse. Imagine what it would have been like if tobacco companies had found a way to weasel their cancer causing ingredients into so many commonly used products that it was nearly impossible to avoid them without educating yourself. That is what we have now with artificial fragrances and other toxic chemical ingredients.

Some people with MCS have been able to get better. But many others, in spite of persistent efforts and lots of money spent on healthcare, still suffer and must strictly avoid chemicals. But whether they are able to recover their health or not, most of them will never be the same. It’s like going through the looking glass into a bizarre world where nothing is as it should be. They will never forget what they have experienced, or the people in this world who are still suffering. To those people, I dedicate this post. And I pray for their recovery and for the world to awaken to this disaster.

I’m so tired of cockamamie health advice that seems to start with the premise that we are nothing but a long, hollow tube beginning at the mouth and ending where the sun don’t shine. Some presume, it seems, that keeping the tube squeaky clean at all times is the cure for every woe. Juice fasts, enemas, and liver cleanses galore are prescribed for everything from acne to asthma. Some of these treatments may have merit in certain situations, but I believe that total health depends upon more than an immaculate gut.

Something many people overlook in their quest for health is the fact that we are complex, finely tuned organisms, exquisitely sensitive to changes in our emotional and physical environment. We have certain needs which are irreducible. Physically, we need clean air, clean water, and adequate nutrition. To be healthy mentally and emotionally, we need love, connection, and a feeling of safety. These things are not negotiable, and any health advice that ignores these facts is likely to be harmful.

For example, the current juice fasting fad seems to be taking the world by storm. Ask any confirmed health nut, including me unfortunately, if they’ve tried a juice fast and you’re likely to get a yes. “If you’re clean inside, you’re green inside”, right? But the juice fast, or indeed any type of fast, ignores one basic truth: we need food. I can already hear all the yes-buts. “Yes but, we are capable of going without food for a time, and fasting can be helpful, it’s even saved lives!” I’m not an expert on fasting. Maybe there really are people who have turned their health around because of a fast. What I have to go on is my own limited knowledge and experience, which tells me that fasting hurts.

Three years ago, I decided to try a juice fast. Many of my friends were doing it. I’d seen Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I thought it might be the answer to some of my nagging health problems. My goal was to sustain the fast for at least five days, knowing that, with my blood sugar issues, I probably wouldn’t be able to go much longer than that. By day three I was miserable. I felt scary-bad. My blood sugar was a mess and my adrenals were shot. I gave up and decided to eat, hoping that I would be able to regain some equilibrium within a few days, but that was not how it went down. The fast was the beginning of a long downward slide. It set off severe chemical and food sensitivities which I now believe were a result of the adrenal fatigue.

Because proteins DRIVE the detoxification process, cleanses based on juices, fruits or vegetables do not make a lot of sense. – 17 Signs of Impaired Liver Detox

The “liver flush” or “liver cleanse” is another very popular treatment intended to purge the body of toxins. Again, I’m sure many people have benefitted from these treatments, but it should be recognized that a treatment this powerful can also be potentially harmful. The liver cleanse requires at least a partial fast. No protein or fat is to be taken for more than 24 hours. After 2:00 PM the day of the cleanse, no food is to be eaten. This type of fast is not extreme and seems reasonably safe for most people. But for those with blood sugar issues or adrenal fatigue, it can be quite difficult, even harmful. Some treatment protocols, including Hulda Clark’s, specify that an overdose of magnesium in the form of Epsom salts must be taken. This, apparently has resulted in cases of hypermagnesemia. The end result of the treatment is diarrhea, and for some, vomiting, which stresses the system and creates electrolyte imbalance.

My experience with the liver flush was extremely unpleasant, even traumatic. I think I would have been fine with the diarrhea and vomiting, that passed pretty quickly. But I did experience hypermagnesemia, which was really scary. As there are very good alternatives to the liver flush, I would not ever do this to myself again.

I’ve noticed that, in addition to seeming rather extreme, many popular natural treatments seem to completely overlook the mind/body connection. There is mounting evidence that our thoughts have a direct bearing on our physical and emotional health. That may mean, among other things, that it’s not just the carotenoids in the carrot that affect our health, but also our thoughts and feelings about carrots. Sound far-fetched? Take a look at this .

So maybe it’s time to rethink this puritanical urge of ours to purge our bodies of impurities. Maybe it’s not what we can squeeze out of our bodies that matters as much as what we put into them. Maybe if we nourish ourselves, body and soul, the trash will take itself out.